Motion induced blurring of a video image has been recognized as a problem particularly with video images attained from small cameras such as carried by many observation vehicles. The problem is apparently more acute in special purpose video observation than in commercial television which can tolerate some blurring. Specifically in the area of military reconnaissance the blurring of a video image is extremely detrimental for target identification. Several techniques have been developed to minimize the blurring of the images resulting from camera angular motion.
One technique for reducing the blurring of video images is to shock mount the video camera to minimize high frequency vibrations which have been identified as a major source of motion induced blurring. Also in an effort to produce motion free video images the bore sight of the camera is gyro stabilized by a servo control having motors for controlling the angular position of two mirrors each mounted on an axis perpendicular to the camera bore sight. It will be readily recognized that the use of servo control techniques for stabilization is costly and results in a rather heavy system. While weight may not be an important factor when a camera is mounted on a pylon, for portable and vehicle mounted video cameras, weight is a factor that must be considered.
While the present invention is not limited to a specific application, in the field of remote pilotless vehicles the added weight and cost caused by inertially controlling the bore sight of the video camera by gyro stabilization of mirrors imposes severe difficulties in field launching and logistics. Also, a remote pilotless vehicle (RPV) is considered an expendable vehicle and the cost of such gyro stabilization of mirrors on orthogonal axis restricts the use of this form of reconnaissance.